Personal Hero
by kyaracandy
Summary: Asuka Tenjoin is a hard-working business woman. After a particularly bad day, she receives a visitor, one she would never expect to see after so many years.


**A/N:** My first time writing Fianceshipping! This is set several years after the end of GX. Interpret it how you will, but do enjoy. I enjoyed writing the fluff a lot ;w;

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><p>The lock of Asuka's apartment door clicked smoothly as she inserted her key after several unsuccessful tries and turned it, marking the end of her long and hectic day. As small as it was, her apartment was her safe haven, and she had spent hours and hours poring over several ads and dealing with overly excited landlords to find the quietest place she could, a place where she could ease her daily headaches and drown herself in romantic comedies on TV. Today had been particularly aggravating for her; her boss had called her in for a "special task", he had said, and instead of some extra filing or copying or whatever it was a fresh intern could do, he had her stand in a corner and—ugh. She could firmly remember kicking him where she knew would hurt the most and running to the nearest telephone to report his crude behavior.<p>

Despite the fact that she knew for sure her boss wouldn't try that again, Asuka couldn't help but feel incredibly invaded, and she wanted nothing more than to retire to her private apartment. She was nearly shaking with frustration as her key refused to find the keyhole in her apartment door, but she immediately felt a wave of relief wash over her as she stepped past the threshold. Closing the door firmly behind her, she removed her padded jacket and heavy purse. This was an extreme weight off her shoulders – literally – and she felt so free she imagined herself running around the apartment naked, scaring herself by seriously contemplating the idea.

She began to unbutton her shirt when she noticed it was oddly chilly in her room. She thought maybe she had left her window open again; she tended to do that when it was unbearably hot during the night and incredibly busy in the morning. However, on this cool autumn evening, it was a rare occurrence. Nonetheless, Asuka turned toward the window to check.

She screamed.

This couldn't be happening, not tonight. She was not going to get robbed or raped or _anything_, she was going to jump kick this invader sitting on her fourth-story windowsill with all the force her self-defense classes could provide her. She was going to tie him up and gag him and stuff him in a bag while she stood there, trusty phone in hand, calling the cops and sending this villain to jail for the heinous crime of ruining the personal time she had been looking forward to all day.

Without thinking, she flew at the thin figure in her window, screaming, her small fists balled in rage.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!"

The voice threw her completely off balance. She jerked her body, lost her forward momentum, and ended up falling directly into the intruder's arms, the arms which were connected to the body which projected that voice, a voice that seemed so incredibly familiar, but her fatigue-labored mind couldn't quite recall when or where she had heard it before. She struggled and bit at her captor, well aware that the more she struggled, the higher possibility the unwanted guest would fall right back out the window he had entered from.

"Asuka! Asuka, it's me!"

She stopped and turned to face him. How _dare_ someone break into her apartment and call her by her first name as if he knew her well? She opened her mouth to scold the intruder, but when she had finally gotten a look at him, all the pent-up stress and angry words died in her throat and choked her for a split second. She sputtered and gasped, but only one word came out: a name.

"J-Judai…?"

The man perched in her window grinned, the same wide, cheesy smile that had filled up Asuka's teenage years. "I guess you haven't forgotten me after all."

"Well of course I wouldn't completely _forget_ you," she replied, trying her best to glare at Judai.

"That's good to hear." The unwanted guest slid, cat-like, from his perch and landed on her apartment floor, officially intruding to his full extent. Asuka shuffled around uncomfortably but let him in. From her memory of Judai years and years before, he wasn't exactly the kind of person one could stop easily.

She sighed and tried to regain her composure. "So… what brings you here?"

Judai had already invited himself to a seat at the small table stuffed into the corner of her room. "I was in the area, so I thought I'd just stop by."

"By climbing in a fourth-story window? If you knew my address, why couldn't you have just waited outside my front door instead of doing… this business?" Asuka waved her hands at the window in emphasis.

The brunette shrugged. "The window was faster."

"You would've had to wait for me to come home either way." She walked over to the kitchen, making a conscious effort to remain calm. "Do you want something to drink?"

"If you have any juice, I'll take it."

Asuka gave him a sideways look and reached into the back of her refrigerator for a carton of orange juice. She was not in the mood to deal with a guest, especially not one as socially demanding as Judai, and she hoped that perhaps he'd leave after he had a little something for his stomach.

Unsurprisingly, he downed the glass in a few seconds and got up to pour himself another. Here he was, breaking into her apartment, touching her things without asking, consuming things she had used her hard-earned money to buy for herself. Despite the number of years they had been apart, all she wanted was for him to leave and for her to get a nice, long rest without any disturbance.

By the time he had his fifth glass of juice and had propped his feet up on the table, Asuka knew he wasn't going to leave anytime soon. Judai grinned at her again as she reluctantly placed herself in the seat across from him.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a full minute as Asuka listened to Judai slurp up the remains of his juice.

"How's life?" Asuka finally asked, feeling alone in the awkwardness.

Judai played with his glass, spinning it around the table and getting flecks of remaining juice in spots. Asuka knitted her brows. This wasn't going to end, was it?

"It's been amazing," he finally said.

"Oh… really?" She wasn't looking him in the eyes.

"Yeah! I've traveled so many places and met so many people, but it's been so long since I've seen someone from Duel Academy… the last time I saw anyone was that time I ran into Misawa on my trip to Italy. He was being a scientist as usual." Judai chuckled. "He's better at Italian than I could ever be."

Asuka nodded slowly. She had only listened to and remembered half of what he said. Something about Italy? She had never been close to Daichi Misawa really, anyway. The way he had always been better at math and science than she was irked her during her days at Duel Academy.

"And I saw the leaning tower, Asuka! You know, the one that I always used to confuse with pizza? I was pretty disappointed when it wasn't made out of pizza."

By this time, Asuka had ceased to respond to him and seemed to be staring intently at a spot on the carpet. She wasn't surprised he had been to all these places. He was Judai, after all, and he could accomplish a lot. She was beginning to regret being angry at him; it was almost unfair after they hadn't seen each other for years. And he wasn't making that much of a mess. She was just so tired from today's stress that it became harder and harder for her to concentrate.

"Do you want me to leave?"

Asuka snapped out of her thoughts. Judai's voice had become soft, his tones subdued and almost… vulnerable, was it? She couldn't quite place this feeling, but something about it made her feel pity and guilt at the same time. She had almost forgotten what he was like at the end of their last year at Duel Academy. He had grown a lot.

She gave him a second chance. "No, I'm just tired. I'm sorry I'm not contributing much."

"Oh," he replied, looking away from her. "I guess I should go, then. Sorry I came in without asking." He turned away, leaving his cup standing alone on the table.

These words stung a little bit. "No," she repeated. Maybe that was too harsh? "I mean…" Her mind searched for the correct words: "Can you please stay?" sounded a little too much like she was begging him to stay; "You can stay here if you want" was too nonchalant for her.

"Stay," she said very quietly.

Judai turned his head back toward her in a swirl of hair that was even longer than she remembered it and smiled a smile that seemed so strange on his face. The ends of his mouth were only slightly curved up, and his eyes were big, full, and warm. It was perhaps the tenderest smile she had ever seen on his face, and for half a second, her heart fluttered.

"Alright. I'll just stay for a little longer, then."

His words were true. His remaining stay was only a few more hours, and as the conversation turned less toward small talk, they began to reminisce. Asuka was surprised with herself. She was actually laughing at the endearing comments they were making about their old friends and all of their oddities. She remembered how she had found each one charming, each person worth knowing, each person determined in his or her own way, and it almost brought tears to her eyes as they began to speak of their final years at Duel Academy.

She realized she had forgotten how much she had cared about that school. The memories had laid dormant in the back of her mind, and as they were revived one by one at Judai's gentle words, she felt the past emotions sweep over her once more. She really, truly missed that school. She missed the sparkling blue dorms and the uniforms. She missed the ridiculous antics of the faculty. She missed having close friends who understood her so well, who accepted her and respected her and made her feel comfortable in her own skin. She missed having so much hope for the future.

She leaned over the table, head in her hands. "Judai… I don't know what I'm doing."

"Hm?"

"I…" She looked up at his expectant face, then hesitantly continued, her voice weak and shaky. "I don't know what I'm doing. I don't enjoy my job, and I have the worst boss. I'm good at filing papers and organizing things, but it doesn't make me happy. Living here doesn't make me happy." She couldn't stop herself from continuing. "I don't even know what I'm doing with my life anymore." She struggled to fight back the pools of tears that were forming in her eyes. "I've made so many mistakes. I don't know what makes me happy. I've screwed up."

She could barely see his expression as it melted away behind a wall of thick, salty tears. "I d-don't know what to do, Judai…"

He sat in silence for what seemed like forever. She immediately regretted asking him. What could Judai do? He hadn't figured himself out yet, how could he help her? She was such an idiot, crying her eyes out in front of someone she hadn't seen for years, someone she would never expect to just pour her troubles onto in an instant, and her stupid mouth wouldn't shut up. She was sobbing, the hot tears rolling down her cheeks incessantly. She couldn't see Judai, and she was so embarrassed that she didn't want to.

"Asuka," he finally said, his low voice barely audible over her sobs. She looked up and sniffled futilely, unable to breathe through her nose. It was even more embarrassing, but at this point she didn't even care anymore.

"You seem really stressed out. Just take a few deep breaths, alright?"

Asuka tried and panicked. She couldn't do it. She couldn't breathe, her situation was too horrible, she had lost everything, and it was all because of her bad decisions and the way she forgot everything about the academy and the times she had let herself get taken advantage of and the way she just sitting here, crying in front of a man she had fallen for in his boyhood so many years ago, and all of this was hitting her at once.

She heard a hushing sound and was taken into a warm embrace. Her hands clenched parts of Judai's shirt as she sobbed uncontrollably, letting everything from the past years escape her in a wail. Her gasps had reduced to small whimpers when she finally heard his voice again, and she felt his chest rumble with the vibrations of his speech.

"I know you're in a tough spot right now, Asuka, but it's not worth giving up. Look, soon enough you'll be promoted in whatever company you're in, and you're going to be the star there because you're so smart and hard-working. I know you are." He was running his fingers through her hair. "You've been that way since Duel Academy."

She didn't say a word. Such words were so foreign to his voice. He wasn't always this kind… this reassuring… was he? Maybe she was the one who needed to grow. She was always caught up in his development, but she hadn't stopped to think about herself. Ironically, she needed him here to understand that for herself. She hugged him closer to her body, unwilling to let him go just yet. His warmth was as comforting as his soft and throaty words.

Asuka wasn't sure how long she stayed in his arms; it could have been ten minutes or an hour, but the post-crying euphoria was beginning to take over her. Judai's embrace was so comfortable. She had forgotten what it was like to be held. She hadn't felt anything like this for such a long time, and this floaty girlish feeling was blooming in her chest. She was reminded of that small crush she had on Judai at Duel Academy. Her heart skipped a few beats and her cheeks heated up with a healthy pinkish glow.

"You know," Judai began, cradling her in his arms. "While I was away, I saw a lot of people. Some of them looked like you, you know?"

Asuka looked up at him questioningly.

"It made me miss you a lot."

She buried her face into his chest to hide the blush that was spreading to her ears now, and he chuckled, laying his head on top of hers, the brown strands mingling with her blond hair. When she spoke, she spoke straight to his heart.

"I missed you too."


End file.
